The Disruption Department

Although I haven’t participated as much as I’d have liked to around here, I have been deeply inspired by the conversation.

That is why I’ve decided to share this idea I’m starting in St. Louis. It is effectively a real world application of the education I’ve found on this blog and on twitter. We’re going to need your help to move forward, because you are those folks who have the vision and action to truly transform the learning opportunities of our kids.

Ok. So the idea is to spread what I’ve been doing the last few years in my school outwards into other schools in St. Louis. Using free tech, open source software, grants, and my networks online to bring urban education up to speed with the innovations that are going on in wealthier schools. Essentially, I see a huge gap between what is happening in my school (and other schools in St. Louis) and the schools where most of my twitter friends teach. I find myself engaging in a lot of conversation, and not being able to apply the fruits of those conversations to my actual school.

Therefore, what we would be doing is to connect teachers and students with other teachers and students globally. We would be using that huge mindshare to shift how these kids and teachers think about the world.

Where we come in is finding the actual technological resources to make this happen. We would bring free laptops into schools loaded with open source software. We would work with teachers how to use things like skype, cameras, blogs, twitter, etc. to deepen understanding and make learning more ubiquitous. We would work on internet access in neighborhoods and coordinate this work across the city.

These ideas are still in their infancy, and I will continue to share when I’ve met a more concise definition of what this org will entail.

I’m from tech, so for me it’s always preferable to release early and then improve with each iteration.

Ok. So the idea is to spread what I’ve been doing the last few years in my school outwards into other schools in St. Louis. Using free tech, open source software, grants, and my networks online to bring urban education up to speed with the innovations that are going on in wealthier schools. Essentially, I see a huge gap between what is happening in my school (and other schools in St. Louis) and the schools where most of my twitter friends teach. I find myself engaging in a lot of conversation, and not being able to apply the fruits of those conversations to my actual school.

Therefore, what we would be doing is to connect teachers and students with other teachers and students globally. We would be using that huge mindshare to shift how these kids and teachers think about the world.

Where we come in is finding the actual technological resources to make this happen. We would bring free laptops into schools loaded with open source software. We would work with teachers how to use things like skype, cameras, blogs, twitter, etc. to deepen understanding and make learning more ubiquitous. We would work on internet access in neighborhoods and coordinate this work across the city.

These ideas are still in their infancy, and I will continue to share when I’ve met a more concise definition of what this org will entail.

I’m from tech, so for me it’s always preferable to release early and then improve with each iteration.

This is a Great IDEA. Seriously…. I think you might find that IDEA is trying to do a lot of what you are talking about and it might be worth your wild to have a long conversion with Scott Nine about work. IDEA is gaining some good traction and better yet a lot of contacts that can be used to built the foundation of your work. Email me at dloitz@democraticeducation.org and I can get you Scott Nine’s info.

Thanks for sharing….

Ps… you might want to copy and paste that info into your actual post as some ereader or rss feeds leave out the comments….

I didn’t realize we had any other St Louisian authors on the Coop. I assume you’ve gotten together with WITS – and probably Ben West and the WasabiNet folks down on Cherokee – and you at least know about Arch Reactor as a potential future collaborator if you can put together the right project – if you’re looking for support from the Arts/Tech community, a PKN talk is in order.

If you are not up on all of these, we should talk. In fact, we should talk anyway. Shoot me an email – webkevin is the com domain, any address should work.

Love it. This idea – especially the learning session piece – speaks to something I’m working on for Classroots.org. What an essential and practical idea. I look forward to following this work, Maestro.

Google has started sending its teacher vanguard Chrome OS machines. I don’t know if you prefer Linux over Chrome, but you might contact Google or work with a Google Certified Teacher (like Paula) to find out what you can about testing a set for them.

For now, the biggest thing we need is an understanding of similar projects in other cities. Do they exist? If so, What have been the strengths and weaknesses of these initiatives?

Additionally, the blog itself: http://thedisrutpiondepartment.org will for now show the development of the project. As much as possible, I would love to have as many eyes on the planning process as possible. So it would be helpful for folks around here to make it that way every once in a while and provide their honest thoughts, critiques and advice in the comments.

Last, spread the word as much as you’re inclined. The more eyes working on this the better. In a sense, I see this as the first globally crowdsourced local organization.